Abstact

Light-sensitive photoprotein berovin accounts for a bright bioluminescence of ctenophore Beroe abyssicola. Berovin is functionally identical to the well-studied Ca(2+)-regulated photoproteins of jellyfish, however in contrast to those it is extremely sensitive to the visible light. Berovin contains three EF-hand Ca(2+)-binding sites and consequently belongs to a large family of the EF-hand Ca(2+)-binding proteins. Here we report the spatial structure of apo-berovin with bound Mg(2+) determined at 1.75Å. The magnesium ion is found in each functional EF-hand loop of a photoprotein and coordinated by oxygen atoms donated by the side-chain groups of aspartate, carbonyl groups of the peptide backbone, or hydroxyl group of serine with characteristic oxygen-Mg(2+) distances. As oxygen supplied by the side-chain of the twelfth residue of all Ca(2+)-binding loops participates in the magnesium ion coordination, it was suggested that Ca(2+)-binding loops of berovin belong to the mixed Ca(2+)/Mg(2+) rather than Ca(2+)-specific type. In addition, we report an effect of physiological concentration of Mg(2+) on bioluminescence of berovin (sensitivity to Ca(2+), rapid-mixed kinetics, light-sensitivity, thermostability, and apo-berovin conversion into active protein). The different impact of physiological concentration of Mg(2+) on berovin bioluminescence as compared to hydromedusan photoproteins was attributed to different affinities of the Ca(2+)-binding sites of these photoproteins to Mg(2+).